The man rode bicycles and auto-rickshaws during his campaign, and triumphed over the richest candidates in Odisha.
Pratap Chandra Sarangi was almost an unknown entity before his victory in the Balasore constituency in Odisha. He received a standing ovation when he was sworn in as a minister of state in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises and in the ministry of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries on Thursday.
Sarangi's popularity only seems to have shot up since then. His name has been everywhere, usually followed by high praise for his austere lifestyle. Photographs of him packing his bags for Delhi in his bamboo hut have gone viral.
Fortunately for him, this recent wave of praise seems to have shadowed his criminal past. Quite in contrast to his clean, white-kurta clad image, Sarangi has been charged with seven criminal cases, and has also made controversial comments about the Christian community.
Sarangi has been charged with four counts of criminal intimidation (S.506 of the IPC), two charges relating to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC S.153A), three charges relating to obscene dances and songs, totalling up to seven criminal cases filed against him.
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He was also the state chief of the Bajrang Dal in 1999, when the Australian Christian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two children were burnt alive by Bajrang Dal activists in Manoharpur-Keonjhar. Sarangi had never even been questioned in the ensuing case, while members of the extreme right-wing outfit Dara Singh and Mahendra Hembram were imprisoned for life. Although he denied the involvement of Bajrang Dal in the killings in an interview with Rediff.com, Sarangi expressed his displeasure with the works carried out with the missionaries and accused them of forcefully converting people.
He was the state president of the Bajrang Dal during Odisha assembly attack in 2002. 500 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and the Durga Vahini overpowered security and stormed into the assembly building. No one was injured, but there was extensive vandalism and damage. These attacks were prompted by the growing list of grouses against the BJP, and the anger was taken out on the BJP’s then ally, the BJD. One of the reasons for the grouses was the denial of a ticket to Sarangi in the 2000 assembly polls.
